She pulled back a little so that she could smile up into his eyes. “I am glad you called for me.”
“I am glad you came.” He returned her smile. It frightened him how her presence could make him so happy, and how her absence could make him so miserable, but he pushed aside those thoughts, determined to stay in the moment, to enjoy every instant he had alone with her. “I made you something.”
Her smile dimmed. “Oh. You’re ready to complete the next test? We must call—”
He touched her lips with his finger, silencing her gently. “I am ready to complete the next test, but first I want to show you what I made for you. I didn’t use magick. I didn’t call Water. I only used my desire to please you. I need no test to school me in that.” Putting his arm around her shoulders, he guided her to the spot where he had beached the boat.
He felt her little start of surprise. “You made this for me?”
“I did.”
She pulled free from his half embrace and hurried to the boat, running her hands over the symbols carved around it and making soft sounds of delight. When she looked up at him, her eyes were filled with tears.
“I wanted you to be able to float on the lake in peace and to think of nothing but the beauty that surrounds you,” he said. “I hope it pleases you.”
Nyx rushed to him and, laughing, hurled herself into his arms. Clinging to his neck, she covered his face in kisses, between kisses saying, “Yes, it pleases me! I love it! Thank you! Thank you!”
He was laughing with her as he spread his wings and lifted her from the ground, twirling her around. Neither realized they were hovering in the air until Nyx’s gaze tried to find the boat. She gasped and clutched his neck. Kalona tightened his arms around her.
“Trust me, Goddess. I would never let you fall.”
Nyx gazed into his eyes. “I trust you.” Then she kissed him. Not playfully, or gently, as she had before. The Goddess kissed him as if she thirsted, and only he could slake her need.
Kalona responded to her passion carefully. He wanted to crush her to him and to claim her as his own. But even more than that, he wanted to please her. So, he let Nyx take her time exploring his lips, touching his face, combing her fingers through his long, thick hair. All the while he held her. He kept her safe.
Too soon she paused her exploration, though the flush of her face and the deepening of her breath told him she had enjoyed herself as surely as her words did. “I like the way you taste,” she said.
He smiled, glad that he had tempered his desire with patience. “And that, my Goddess, pleases me.”
“Would you take me out in your boat?”
“It would be my pleasure, but it isn’t my boat. It is yours.”
“Kalona, sometimes you say exactly the right thing.”
He snorted as they drifted slowly to ground. “Sometimes, but not often.”
“I think you’re getting better at it,” she said.
“I could not get much worse.” Taking her hand, he helped her into the boat. “I-I made a mess of the Air test,” he said, pushing the craft out into the water before he got in with her. When she didn’t answer him, he made himself keep busy with the wooden paddle, steering the boat out onto the glasslike surface of the lake.
When he finally looked at her, Nyx was watching him, her expression unreadable.
“You are still angry with me?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I was never angry with you. I was sad and disappointed.”
“Knowing I have caused you sadness wounds me,” he said. “I will do better with the next test. I vow it.”
“It wasn’t the test that made me sad. It wasn’t the test that disappointed me.”
“What then?”
“You were cruel to Erebus. He did not deserve that.”
Kalona almost snapped the paddle in two. Unable to contain his jealousy, he blurted, “You do not prefer him!”
“Kalona, you both were created for me. You both have a purpose and a place at my side. If you do not want to sadden or disappoint me, you will not harbor enmity for your brother.”